Update(1240ET): While dozens of ships have come under attack by Iran in the Hormuz Strait and nearby areas since the war began, resulting in damage and fires aboard vessels, it remains much more rare for a tanker to sink at a total loss.
However, the WSJ has confirmed Wednesday that two have completely sunk in the last 24 hours, the first of which we reported on below. Here are the further details via WSJ:
Two Emirati cargo ships have sunk in the past 24 hours after being struck in the Strait of Hormuz, an escalation with little precedent as Iran ramps up attacks to levels not seen since the war started.
The GFS Pride and the Cape Dao have both gone down, said Pakistan’s National Hydrographic Office, which monitors maritime activities in Middle Eastern waters. Maritime security companies confirmed the two losses Wednesday and said this was the first such incident in months.
The sinkings came as the U.S. military has been successfully shepherding more Gulf oil through the strait while bottling up Iranian oil exports with a naval blockade and sanctions.
One of the ships that sunk had been in distress and apparently abandoned since being first attacked on September 23, according to UN shipping agency data.
Despite many attacks, the WSJ notes that the last ship sinking in the waters occurred back in March. It details, “The vessel was hit by a projectile that sparked a fire in its engine room, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel. A tugboat sent to rescue the ship was also struck. Four seafarers died and three were severely injured, according to the International Maritime Organization.”
On Wednesday Iranian state media has been widely circulating fresh footage of one of the sinkings:
🇮🇷 Iranian media has released footage of what it says is a container ship sinking in the Strait of Hormuz, after hitting a mine. Read more: https://t.co/4LfekmsNG4 https://t.co/SRAiUVkpP7
— Roya News English (@RoyaNewsEnglish) October 14, 2026
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Iran has quite obviously been surging its attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to wreak uncertainty and economic havoc for the Trump administration ahead of the November midterm elections, undermining a recent recovery in Persian Gulf oil shipments.
The attacks are now coming so frequently it is difficult to deep track. One source tallies of recent days, “Twelve vessels were attacked between October 5 and 11, including six on Sunday alone, and on Tuesday a tanker and a container ship were struck by unknown projectiles, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), marking one of the most intense periods of attacks since the war began.”
Other outlets also confirmed the single day record of six attacks this past Sunday. It some time for confirmation of all these vessels’ status to emerge amid the fog of war in the contested strait.
The prominent and outspoken secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei, has meanwhile affirmed that the IRGC was striking vessels nightly, and is likely to keep doing so.
“We target five or six of these every night,” he told state TV. “Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic.“
While the US has been touting a successful naval escort mission to get unprecedented numbers (for wartime) of tankers through the strait, Rezaei described that the US is merely using small craft to smuggle Iranian oil on to larger tankers out at sea, and then doing ship-to-ship transfer.
Tehran has claimed further that American naval ships don’t dare come close to Iran’s shores, on fears of being hit.
On Wednesday, Iran’s military has announced yet another attack, this time on a container ship. Al Jazeera reports of the notification:
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that a container ship “carrying contraband” and attempting to pass through “an unauthorized and dangerous route” in the Strait of Hormuz exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine.
Footage published by the IRGC shows a container ship it calls “illegal” sinking south of the Strait of Hormuz with 2,500 containers aboard. https://t.co/lCgeztmHSp
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 14, 2026
Overall for the month of October we’ve seen at least 24 foreign vessels targeted and hit by Iranian forces. If this keeps up, oil prices are likely to be soaring by month’s end.
“At least 18 ships were hit between Oct. 1 and Oct. 11, according to the UKMTO, with another six attacks recorded by other European security sources, the Financial Times reported,” the NY Post comments.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 10/14/2026 – 12:40
